USDA Tweaks Crop Forecasts: Corn Yields Down, Soybeans Hit Record
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revised its forecast for the 2026 corn and soybean crops. In its latest report, the agency lowered its estimate for national corn yield to 178.5 bushels per acre, down 2.2 bushels from its August projection.
This reduction in yield led to a decrease of 213 million bushels in total corn production, now forecast at 15.8 billion bushels. The USDA also reduced projected new-crop corn ending stocks to 1.56 billion bushels, while increasing the average farm-price forecast by 30 cents to $4.80 per bushel.
On the other hand, the soybean outlook improved with a higher yield estimate of 52.8 bushels per acre, resulting in a record production forecast of 4.53 billion bushels. However, despite this increase, projected soybean ending stocks declined to 310 million bushels.
The USDA left its U.S. wheat production estimate unchanged at 1.53 billion bushels.